All four collections
Daily Challenge
Ten questions. The same ten for everyone, until midnight UTC.
How it works →Daily · 1,014 objects · 4 museums
Which came first?
Trust your eye.
Two objects from the world's open museum collections. You are told what each one is and who holds it — never when it was made. Pick the older one. Ten a day.
Free, no account, takes about two minutes.
Pick your game
Every collection has its own daily ten and its own endless run. Start anywhere; nothing is locked.
New York · 1800 BC – 1999
The Met
227 objects in play
About this collection →Chicago · 1956 BC – 1987
Art Institute of Chicago
346 objects in play
About this collection →London · 1400 – 1999
Wellcome Collection
245 objects in play
About this collection →Amsterdam · 1200 – 1955
Rijksmuseum
196 objects in play
About this collection →How it works
Two objects, no dates
You are told the form of each thing and the museum that holds it, and nothing more. Materials, wear, palette, subject — that is the whole evidence base.
The answer is provable
A pair is only asked when the two date ranges do not overlap, so one object is unambiguously older whatever the exact year turns out to be.
Everybody gets the same ten
The Daily Challenge is identical worldwide. Compare, share the grid, argue about number seven.
The collections
Spanning 1956 BC to 1999. Every object is drawn from a museum's own open data, and only ever when that museum states an open licence for the image. Read about the four collections →
Questions
Is it the same puzzle for everyone?
Yes. The Daily Challenge is ten fixed questions, the same for every player, changing at midnight UTC.
Where do the images come from?
Four museums publishing open data: the Met, the Art Institute of Chicago, Wellcome Collection and the Rijksmuseum. Rights are checked object by object.
Do I need an account?
No. Your streak and stats live in this browser and nowhere else.